Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah, 46, killed by lethal injection days after state’s key witness recanted critical testimony
South Carolina executed a man on death row on Friday, days after the key witness for the prosecution came forward to say he lied at trial and the state was putting to death an innocent man.
Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah, 46, was killed by lethal injection, pronounced dead at 6.55pm, according to the Associated Press, which was one of several media witnesses to the execution.
His lawyers had filed emergency motions for a delay this week, citing new testimony suggesting he was wrongfully convicted. But the state supreme court rejected the pleas and Henry McMaster, the Republican governor, announced just before the execution that he would not be granting clemency.
The execution of a man later found to have been innocent should automatically generate a murder conviction for all the key players (those who could have done something) in the chain that put him to death.
So that would be the key witness at the trial, the prosecutors at that trial, the judges on the state Supreme Court, and the governor that refused to grant clemency.
The system needs to be held responsible when it knowingly makes mistakes and intentionally fails to correct those mistakes.